‘Country Practices’. The title of Chapter 10 of the new United Nations Practical Manual on Transfer Pricing [pdf] doesn’t exactly set the pulse racing. But as I noted in my blog on the manual as a whole, this document is politically very significant. It’s probably the only detailed description of Brazil, China, India and South… Continue reading UN transfer pricing manual: what Brazil, India and China do differently
Category: Taxing multinational companies
The United Nations Practical Manual on Transfer Pricing: a bluffer’s guide
Last week saw the official launch of a 495-page document by the United Nations tax committee, its new Practical Manual on Transfer Pricing for Developing Countries [pdf]. The final product has been four years in the making and is an impressive, introductory-level guide to transfer pricing. So definitely worth dipping in and out of if… Continue reading The United Nations Practical Manual on Transfer Pricing: a bluffer’s guide
Treating tax incentives like illegitimate debt
I’m at the United Nations tax committee, which yesterday hosted a day’s discussion on taxing the mining, oil and gas sectors. Quite a bit of the discussion dwelt on the stability clauses that are often built into contracts between the governments of developing countries and extractive industry companies making investments. In general these clauses insulate… Continue reading Treating tax incentives like illegitimate debt
Clamping down on Google’s tax avoidance: don’t hold your breath
This is a post I wrote for the LSE Policy & Politics blog. Google’s executive chairman Eric Schmidt will stand up to give a talk at the LSE this evening after a week of unprecedented criticism of the search giant. I wonder if he still feels the same way today as he did last October,… Continue reading Clamping down on Google’s tax avoidance: don’t hold your breath
Putting a price on the reputation risk from tax avoidance
What are the reputational consequences of perceived corporate tax avoidance? That’s the question that introduces today’s “Tax and Reputation Forum,” organised by the Oxford Centre for Business Taxation and friends. (It’s at King’s College London, so after the High Court the other week, I’m beginning to think that Aldwych is the centre of tax news!)… Continue reading Putting a price on the reputation risk from tax avoidance
Secondments, democratic scrutiny and corporate tax
I’ve just been next door to the high court (a perk of being at the LSE!) to watch the UK Uncut Goldman Sachs judicial review. For all those who lament the quality of public debate on questions of corporate taxation, this is surely a desirable outcome: a painstaking debate through which the judiciary will decide… Continue reading Secondments, democratic scrutiny and corporate tax
Martin Hearson 